Newspapers / InterCom (Durham, N.C.) / Jan. 13, 1978, edition 1 / Page 3
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Finding should please matadors (Continued from page 1) transparent nerve cells that coat the retina, the scientist explained. Three distinct categories of responses representing the three cone varieties were found. Wolbarsht said the research is more than just an interesting observation. "We think this will help us to understand better the mechanisms of color vision," he said. "It also suggests that the cat might be a good experimental animal in the future for color vision problems." Currently a hereditary blindness to shades of either red or green handicaps approximately one of every 10 men. Few women have color blindness. Binomial misnomenclature * A firefly is not a fly and a glowworm is not a worm. Actually, both are beetles. * The wood called Douglas fir is from the pine tree. * Every dressed chicken is practically nude. * Dry cleaning is made possible with a liquid. * Squirrel fur is used in the manufacture of camel's hair brushes. * Silkworms are not worms. They are caterpillars. * The caraway seed is not a seed. It is a fruit that has dried. * French telephones were originally American. Wolbarsht said scientists first determined that monkeys and primates other than man had "trichromatic" or full color vision by training them to find food in colored containers. ' Cats, dogs and other animals are not so easy to train, however, because they often make unwilling students, he said. "Such a large part of a dog's life is devoted to sound and smell, that it's often hard to tell if he goes blind, let alone if he has color vision," Wolbarsht said. "Cats are difficult to teach to do anything," he added. And unless they are anesthetized and given eye drops, their slit pupils close to the point where color receptors temporarily cease to function. Best left to matador The scientist said he still has no idea whether a red cape will make a bull angrier than a green one, for example. "I'll leave that to the matadors," he said. Also involved in the experiments were graduate students James Ringo, Richard Crocker and Frank Amthor, and Dr. Henry G. Wagner of the National Institutes of Health, who holds a clinical professorship in ophthalmology here. On tour today Members of a medical explorers class from Chapel Hill Senior High School are touring the medical center today. On tour with the class is teacher Barbara Thornton. THE LOGO AND THE DESIGNER—Increasingly now you'll be seeing the new Duke University Hospital logo on brochures and other printed material. Here is the logo and its creator, Vitezslava (Vita) Otrubova-Hayes, who is head of the art department in the university's Office of Publications. The logo appears as a cross but also forms the small letters d, u, h for Duke University Hospital. As you're looking at the logo, the arm of the cross on the left forms the letter a; the u is at the bottom; and the disconnected portion forms the h. The logo, which Hayes calls "very simple and strong," is easily recognized, she says, "and in its simplicity and boldness, it could easily be adapted to a great variety of uses — from a big sign on a building to a small pin." The designer came up with a modern logo because "it represents visually the latest in modern medicine, modem facilities and modern equipment which Duke Hospital offers," while at the same time incorporating the cross, an international syinbol of health services. A native of Prague, Czechoslovakia, Hayes was educated at the School of Design there and worked for three years as art editor at the State Publishing House for Children's Books before coming to the United States. She first began work at Duke in 1969. Her husband, Richard Hayes, is director of development for the medical center. fPhoto hy Elizabeth Malheson) *A calorie is a calorie no matter where it comes from’ (Continued from page 2) Among the common fads Kimm singled out were specific food benefit claims, diet supplements, organic farming and vegetarianism. "TTie health value of yogurt, wheat germ, blackstrap molasses, brewer's yeast and many other foods has been widely promoted as having special properties that improve health," she said. "This is simply not true." In addition, there is no clear-cut scientific evidence that supplements of vitamin E will prevent coronary artery disease or that large doses of vitamin C can prevent colds, she said. She said there is no basis to the claim that organically grown foods are which vegetables lack. Diets worth avoiding Kimm said several diets are potentially harmful. "The Zen macrobiotic diet, which purports to create a spiritual awakening or rebirth, is the most dangerous recent fad," she said. "The American Medical Association Council on Foods and Nutrition has published a statement condemning it as a threat to human life." She quoted Dr. ]. Mayer, a noted Boston nutritionist, as saying "a drinking man's diet high in fats and alcohol makes you fat, drunk and eventually dead." The Food and Drug Administration is investigating the deaths of 36 persons who were trying to lose weight on Linn's starchy foods. All of these goals have been suggested by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, she added. High salt consumption has been linked to hypertension, Kimm pointed out. Sugar, while not harmful in itself, consists of "empty" calories that can increase weight without providing any proteins, vitamins or minerals. "Sugar also causes dental cavities," she said. "A calorie is a calorie no matter where it comes from," she concluded. "We cannot defy the law of thermodynamics no matter how passionately we long to do so." "It's important that all of us realize that we live in a real world where there is no constant occurrence of miracles. Unfortunately, we tend to be lazy. We want to be passive recipieats of magic rather thw active participants in our own health programs." nutritionally superior to foods grown under standard agricultural conditions using chemical fertilizer. "Plants use only inorganic, not organic forms of plant food, so it is relatively immaterial which of the two farming methods is followed," she explained. "We know more about food additive safety than natural poison in plants. Organic vs. inorganic "One important consideration regarding organically grown foods is cost," she said. "It is well established that Americans are paying from 30 to 100 per cent more for organically grown groceries than for their non-organic counterparts." Vegetarianism can be a healthy practice, as Seventh Day Adventists and some Hindu, Buddhist and Catholic sects have demonstrated, but it cannot cure existing illness, she warned. Strict vegetarians who eat no food derived from animal sources need supplements of vitamin Bl2 liquid protein diet, she said. Scientists believe a lack of potassium in the liquid can disrupt the heart's natural rhythm. Individuals with kidney or liver problems should avoid the well-known Stillman high protein diet, also called the water diet, she said, adding that she personally doesn't recommend it for anyone. Finally, Kimm said nutritionists have called Atkins' high fat, low carbohydrate diet "bizarre," and "unbalanced, unsound and unsafe." Exercise and cut consumption She urged that persons interested in losing weight exercise regularly and cut their consumption of all foods except fruits and vegetables. Particularly important for all Americans, she said, is reducing the intake of salt, sugar, cholesterol and saturated animal fats, and increasing the proportion of calories derived from complex carbohydrates available in "Americans as a group eat too much food. At least 30 per cent of us are significantly overweight, and obesity has been called our number one health problem."
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